The erratic adventures of shay & jax
10 years ago, UK screens were first graced by the presence of self-facilitating media node that was Nathan Barley. This is the first of two cultural references that may pass readers in some part of the world by, but I promise to make it up to you later with pictures of ladies with tattoos. Maybe. If you're lucky. If you haven't watched Nathan Barley then you really, really need to. I don't know if the show was as prescient as the Graun makes out. Even growing up on the moon (aka Plymouth) and going to uni in Bournemouth, the world was already shrinking. By the time Nathan Barley was shown, I was all too aware of the Shoreditch twat and the Hoxton fin. Nathan distilled all of that into one perfect, pompous, two bluetooth headset-toting bellend, who was still strangely endearing. Today elements of that subculture are being seen more and more. Hipsters are like rats these days - you're never more than 6 feet from one. And yet, as much as we sneer (and goodness knows I sneer) it's not really the end of the world, is it? You're not very likely to get glassed in a hipster bar (although I image that Kilner jars would make a fine assault weapon). Growing up in 90s Plymouth, where the local NHS trust opened a minor injuries unit specialising in treating such injuries, and police and Provost meatwagons would perch on every side road off of Union Street, I can't say that I mind a little gentrification. And while there's much to mock about the worst excesses of hipsterism, that's true of every subculture. When I tell people that I like hip hop, I think many of them are immediately surprised that I don't throw gang signs and call everyone blud. Which I do, obviously, but only when I go to visit my parents. Anyway - Nathan Barley. Go watch it; it's totally fucking Mexico. The second section of this blog which will make many eyes glaze over begins now. That's right, cricket references are back!! Err, except that I'm a little out of the loop on the cricket front. Is KP still playing? :P Okay, maybe not that far out of the loop. The England one-day side have gathered a little momentum of late. Freed from the turgid pace of Ali Cook's batting, Ian Bell. Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan and James Taylor (minus the rest of the quartet) all look like proper limited overs batsmen, with guys like Root, Buttler and Bopara to back them up. Our attack is pretty decent too. The problem is that we still look a step or two below the top sides like Australia and New Zealand, both of whom are in our group. So no World Cup victory for us, but I think we'll do better than many expect. Are you poor foreigners bored yet? There, there - the nasty sport has gone away now. Well maybe not just because. The tenuous link is that I'm still thinking of recycling V as Ellis, and wondered whether to make the leap to using Kandy K as her faceclaim. But, yeah - mostly just because.
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I have my first Christmas do tomorrow - a famously boozy one with a contractor we do a tonne of work for/with. I generally tend to feel 'delicate' the following day. Pity me. :( From here on in, I firmly believe that my life will be stress, stress and more stress, with a little stress on the side, right up until Christmas, when it will be all gravy (quite literally, in some cases!) This doesn't mean that I won't be around, just that I may be a little frazzled. Shay's new band will be booking shows as of this evening (he said hopefully) and on the road in January. The song writing bug continues to bite, and if anyone fancies scribbling down a song together then let me know. I have openings on the collaboration front now, don't I? Hmm? Hmm?! Yeah, you - you know who I'm talking to... :P I finally got around to watching Guardians of the Galaxy and Pacific Rim. Guardians just flat-out pwns, with great CGI, good action sequences and zingy, campy dialogue. Dave Bautista deapanning Drax the Destroyer is very entertaining. Pacifc Rim is terrible, but terrible in the brilliant way that all kaiju movies should be. Alas, no sexy robots, but you can't have everything! I believe I promised you all heavily tattooed women and cricket references, BUT! I have something even better. That's right peoples, brace yourself for: BREAD'S SOLID FUEL REVIEWZ!!1!!!1l0lNo.1 of ∞: Molacite
Regularly sized processed anthracite briquettes. They light easily and burn right through, but produce quite a lot of ash. Hotter than a motherfucker, but not a particularly slow burn, so don't expect the firebox of your archaic lump of cast iron to keep in for a whole day. Reasonably priced when bought in bulk, and suitable for smoke control zones. I like the mole chewing an ear of corn. And his little hat. 7.5/10 Are you reading the new Bolger blog? No? Well why the fuck not?! Fix up, numpty!! Anyway, it's good. Even if she can't quite decide if it's in or out of character. If I was picky about these things then I'd be picky about these things. In other news:
Yeah, yeah - whatevs. Carry on, gentlemen (and ladies). Ap's (3) verse is insane...
The Rock has come ba- oh no, not that. Finally the lady behind the Foulquiers (aka Cookie - another one that's jacked my food-themed weebly nickname gimmick :P) has got her site The Architecture of Loss to a point where she can publish. It's not complete but there's still a fair bit of info there. I'm liking her insanely detailed eye-colours, and the fact she lets you in on how old the characters really are. It's also a pretty site; all the character photos are lovely, and the whole site design and gives you more than a hint of the author's Goth tendencies. And who doesn't love Goth girls? I like them so much, I married one! Rice, you should definitely check it out - there's a good opportunity for letching on the first page, and I know how you love to leer. :) Anyway, there are no character bios up yet, which I will look forwards to as I'm a big fan of her writing. However, in the meantime, I can reveal that all of her characters are either madly in love with Shay, or in denial about being madly in love with Shay. All of them. Honest - you can trust me...
What else? Well, Vera has just met her step-sister. Amazingly the fact that Marianne was related to V through Dean has completely escaped me to this point, but putting the two of them in the same room should spark some good Odd Couple-type moments. I'm tired, but at least the sun is shining. This means that spring may have just about sprung. Popmundo is a bit 'meh', as I'm as busy as everyone else, and I have no inspiration re. new songs. After meeting up with an old friend last weekend, I'm also starting to play the older-than-god's-dog It's A Crime, which could cut into my titting about time. What am I busy with? Well work mostly; still helping to put right all the damage caused by the storms that the UK copped at the turn of the year. In fact, it's 10pm and I'm doing a bit of work now. Small mercies? I generally enjoy what I do. On top of that, I just out the other day that some houses I designed have won a county award for best social housing and best small development. This means they go forwards to the regional awards, and also means that I may have to hire a tux. :P On top of that, the fine weather is a good opportunity to get work done around the house. We cleared out a border in the sunniest spot in the garden and finally buried our old cat on the weekend. He died just before we moved a few years ago. He had a pretty tough life before we took him in, having been abandoned by three different families, We promised him that he was coming with us and, even though he died a few weeks before the move, we kept our promise. For the past few years his ashes have been in a cupboard while we cleared and planted the garden. It may seem strange, but even though it's been three years, taking the wooden box that contained his ashes out of the cardboard box that the vets had packaged it up in for the first time still produced floods of tears from Clair and I. I think what set me off was seeing how small the box was. Anyway, that's all over, and it was nice (in an odd way) to do and to write about. To give you some idea of what a fucking idiot he was, if you started to tickle him, he would roll over like dog so that you could tickle his belly. Occasionally, if he was near a wall or fence, he would forget to leave room for his bum, and this would happen: Other than that, though, I promised you some of the stuff that's been missing from this blog lately. I was going to start with music, but the local live music scene is being a bit crap at present so other than post random stuff I've been listening to on Spotify, nothing leaps to mind on that score. Instead, let's go with the heavily tattooed women, shall we? How good is that image? And I do mean as a piece of photography, not (just) because of Heidi Lavon's *ahem* ample charms. Big ups to Mr Travis Haight. Oh, and a a music link has just sprung to mind. I heard this while I was getting my hair cut, and I'm loving the riff (and I'm a sucker for bands that are just drums and a bass): It's raining again. You'd think, living in Southwest England, I'd be used to it, but the weather has been so shit for so long that it is genuinely getting me down. I would kick a small dog for some cold, dry weather. Work has been quiet for the last couple of weeks, meaning that Monday-Friday, 9-6 moves like treacle. Normally I like these brief quiet spells. I do deadline-driven work, so the odd quiet week here and there is a chance to catch up on the paperwork and CPD I habitually ignore, and to piss about on Popo and perhaps write a few songs. However, Popo isn't much of a diversion at the moment; I am struggling with character ideas, and a lot of the people I tend to bounce ideas and messages off are stuck in a busy/away cycle, or having their own motivational issues. Pretty soon the work that is looming for February will be upon me, and it'll be panic stations again. Sorry for being a moany fuck; just feeling a bit 'meh' today. Feel free to cheer me up by sending me links to 'research images' of attractive, heavily tattooed women who could become V's next faceclaim. By which I mean V's next faceclaim that Rice steals, obviously... ;) I'm going to start playing with a few DAWs and having a go at making some of my own music, including putting some of the better stuff I've written for V and Shay to music. Do any of my loyal readers (I may be down to just the one now!) have any recommendations? I'm not going to dive headlong into Pro Tools or Logic Pro. I want something easy to pick up and fairly low-cost to start off with, and I'm looking at FL Studio and Reaper. I also quite like the old-skool trackeriness of Renoise, which reminds me of the heady days of me and my cousin making terrible Techno on our Commodore Amigas. If and when I get up to speed, I may *ahem* download a trail copy of Ableton, or something similar. A friend recommended I listen to Elvis, and who am I to argue? Man, I love that film
So 2013 ended with a bit of a whimper, Weebly-wise. I blame Rice. And Butters. Yep, totally their fault. Anyway, I resolve to try and keep this page a little more active this year. Admittedly that may require me to just post random nonsense about life in the real world that none of you care about, but that's what 2/3 of this blog has been anyway! Ok, so 2013 saw Vera have her longest period of musical success under the guidance of Overlord Nails. Now I know that she still wasn't all that successful, but that just proves how much I suck at this game. Thanks to Neil's typist, and apologies for dragging him down. :P She also had her first proper job, teaching at universities in both London and LA, wrote a few songs that I was happy with, struck out on a largely theoretical solo career, and married Fay. Looking back, it's been a more eventful year than I thought, as I was of the view that she'd kinda coasted the last 12 months. The plan for the coming year is to finally achieve concept album greatness. Shay pretty much coasted in terms of the musical side of the game, but he did meet Madi, get together and break up with Joni, and just generally stagger along in his social life with no real plan. Not that that's a bad thing - I'm not sure I want to plan whole life arcs for my characters - too damn lazy. Plans for this year? Dunno. I am still toying with having him quit music and be Vera's minion full time. To be confirmed though. Lastly (on the Popo-front) I'm thinking about bringing Dean back. I dunno if I have enough money to de-age him sufficiently though. What credit items go for the most cash (other than EdP. obviously?) Personally speaking it's been a fun year. Busy professionally, and very busy socially. Weddings will do that. This does mean that works to the cottage have slipped, as has my desire to get a better understanding of quantum physics. Oh well, they will just have to roll over into 2014. Bread's Top 10 Tracks of 2013: (In no particular order...) Musician by Homeboy Sandman - an intelligent, eloquent defence of what it means to be an MC, and part of a culture that is widely derided as overly-commercialised and shallow. All over a sick, sick beat. Definition of a Rap Flow by RA the Rugged Man - Insanity. Absolute fucking insanity. And putting his voice over that happy, bouncy beat should not work - but it does. As Darkness Falls by Zomby - I'm more of a dabbler in the dubstep and chiptune scenes than a fully fledged fan, but this album is a belter, full of old skool rave flashes, and has, at times, massively increased my productivity at work. Sea of Trees by Monolithian - I promise you, I'm not putting in a track by a tiny, unsigned band just to be some sort of Indier-than-thou hipster cunt. The Cornish doomsters' track is ear drum-crushingly heavy, and actually pretty damn funky, as the lead guitar parts are played on bass, not electric guitar. Plus it's an amp-killing belter live! Molotov by Reks - I've put this video up on here before, but fuck it, it deserves to be posted twice. Incredible lyricism over a nasty beat. The Unholy Hand by The Bronx - Man, I love the Bronx. Everything from their refusal to give their albums anything but numbers, to how seriously they take their mariachi music. The Bronx IV is another strong album, the opening track being my personal fave. Wall-E by CES Cru - Apparently CES have been around forever, they've just been unknowns playing clubs in Kansas. Maybe that's why their first full length effort on a bigger label gets a little obsessed with the grinding and hustling themes, but it's a solid hip hop album, with occasional gems like this that shows that not every rapper is interested only in money and ladydogs. City Dump by The Melvins - If that riff doesn't make you want to throw the horns, then I'm sorry, but you suck. :P Warn a Brotha by the White Mandingos - a punk band fronted by underground rap legend Murs performing a concept album about a fictional black rock band's rise to fame? Oh you know I'm gonna like that kind of oddness! :D The theme to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - Ok, so it didn't come out in 2013, but it was the song that my wife and I walked out to after our wedding ceremony. :) And finally, a special mention to: 1UP by Just Blaze x Mysto & Pizzi - I think, technically, this was released on January 1st, but fuck it, it's been drilled into my brain ever since the lady behind the Foulquiers introduced me to it.
Apologies for the teal dear. You could always go read Rice's blog - she's good at not writing much. Not much that makes sense, anyway... (Oh no he di'n't! :P) I forgot to mention that I had the nicest marmalade I've had in some time. Seriously. Lovely and fruity, with a good level of 'bits' and a bitter aftertaste. Those of you fortunate enough to live in the greatest place on earth (aka the West Country) can pick it up from any number of shops. Northern Monkeys should try the Boddington Berries shop where, through the joys of this 'ere new-fangled internet thingamajig, jar can be sent across the country, and even out to the Colonies (you know, Australia, America, France - those sorts of places...) Why, I think they even ship to entirely uncivilised, barbarous areas like southern Europe, and McDonia in particular. Although quite why you would need marmalade in these places, I don't know. You're probably too busy pickling and curing now that the firey ball is low in the sky...
There, I think that's all of my regular readers nicely insulted! C'mon, you know I icecreamcone you all really. :* I added sexual orientation to the character pages, and corrected some typos and whatnot. All terribly exciting, I'm sure. V has two more weeks as part of a duet before it's all change. This is when I'll make the jump to the Teya face-claim. I have to bottom out what I'm doing with her professionally too. I had assumed it would be a solo cowpunk career, but I did receive an interesting, if possibly slightly flippant offer to join a band that warrants some thought. On the one hand, I wouldn't mind doing some stupid shit with her, and there's no need to drag anyone else's career into the gutter. On the other hand, a lazy ride with a band that knows what they're doing could be fun. I've just finished reading the Supernatural Roleplay thread in Dr Snuggles. Vera to be revealed as a werebadger? I mean, c'mon, where did you think the white stripe came from? Lastly, I need to find a second translator for the British English language. You might know it as UK English, but you might be wrong. :P Anyway, if you know someone who might be interested, please point them towards message 2168820.1. Ta muchly! What's that you say, gentle reader? I haven't put up any pictures of heavily tattooed women for you to admire/fap to (delete depending on whether you are Ricicles or not)? Shit, ladydog, you can't find your own? Fine, fine - if you insist. Honestly, I'm too good to you lot... Ka-POW!! Honestly now, how fucking awesome is that tat? Oo, I know! I'll do a recommend me-type thingy, but for comics. Do you read comics (or 'graphic novels', if you're too scared to admit that you're a fanboy/girl/thing)? If so, what would you recommend?
I can do the whole superhero thing, but I tend to get bored about the lack of character progression. That's not a slur on the writers, or the genre; I totally understand that the big guns have to be protected, because they make Marvel and DC a metric fuck-tonne of money. I just prefer superhero stories that have a definitive arc (like Watchmen, or The Boys), and/or aren't afraid to fuck over major characters because the main drive is the story, and not the franchise (like Savage Dragon). I also like lots of supernatural, sci-fi and pulp stuff. Right, that's it: I'm giving up on this weebly lark. Why? Well, because I've just read another new (kinda) weebly: Totally Birmingham. After seeing the combination of pretty-as-a-picture design, and insane levels of detail (Brittany has a favourite tree! Holy shit, I don't even have a favourite tree!) I've decided to retire from roleplaying* altogether, and quietly tend to my vegetable plot. :P
Well, either that, or steal some of her ideas. I'll be adding notes about my characters' accents dreckly. YOINK! I think I'm going to go with Teya as Vera's faceclaim. Bobzilla didn't care for the the sample picture I put up in the last blog, but after she did some further 'research' (fnarr) she seems to have come around. You don't know, gentle reader, how much self-restraint it took not to write come around as 'come around' (fnarr). But, of course, I would never never smear her good name with smutty innuendo. Truly, I am a saint... Anyway, Mary-Leigh Maxwell is super-lovely, but her photos are, as someone else pointed out, just a bit too vampy for Vera. *No cracks about "I didn't notice that you'd ever started", thank-you! |
WTF?!This site contains out-of-character information for characters and events in the MMO Popmundo, as well as general navel-gazing and apologies for never updating. "If you are offended by words like: Shit! Bitch! Fuck! Dick! Ass! Whore! Cum!" Ice-T
Who the Hell?!
The author is a professional person in his mid-30s, old-school Hip Hop head, Punk Rock fan, Plymouth Argyle supporter, comic book reader, and general lo-fi nerd. He lives in the countryside with two cats and newly-wed wife, all of whom seem to be above him in the pecking order. He is a big fan of tea, fig rolls, H.P. Lovecraft, facial hair and quiffs. While MPB robbed him of his quiff-rocking dreams, he does sport a dope handlebar moustache. Categories
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